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Geometric morphometric methods for three-dimensional virtual reconstruction of a fragmented cranium: the case of Angelo Poliziano

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Abstract

The process of forensic identification of missing individuals is frequently reliant on the superimposition of cranial remains onto an individual's picture and/or facial reconstruction. In the latter, the integrity of the skull or a cranium is an important factor in successful identification. Here, we recommend the usage of computerized virtual reconstruction and geometric morphometrics for the purposes of individual reconstruction and identification in forensics. We apply these methods to reconstruct a complete cranium from facial remains that allegedly belong to the famous Italian humanist of the fifteenth century, Angelo Poliziano (1454–1494). Raw data was obtained by computed tomography scans of the Poliziano face and a complete reference skull of a 37-year-old Italian male. Given that the amount of distortion of the facial remains is unknown, two reconstructions are proposed: The first calculates the average shape between the original and its reflection, and the second discards the less preserved left side of the cranium under the assumption that there is no deformation on the right. Both reconstructions perform well in the superimposition with the original preserved facial surface in a virtual environment. The reconstruction by means of averaging between the original and reflection yielded better results during the superimposition with portraits of Poliziano. We argue that the combination of computerized virtual reconstruction and geometric morphometric methods offers a number of advantages over traditional plastic reconstruction, among which are speed, reproducibility, easiness of manipulation when superimposing with pictures in virtual environment, and assumptions control.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Philipp Gunz for providing the formulae that he developed in order to reconstruct missing data in Mathematica. We wish to express our thanks to the staff of the Radiology Department of Ravenna Hospital (Ravenna, Italy) and Clinica Pinna Pintor (Turin, Italy), in particular to Dr Gino Carnazza, for support in this project on the technical aspects of CT scanning. Thanks to Prof. Giacomo Giacobini for help in the choice of the reference skull. Many thanks to Stephanie Kozakowski for copy editing our manuscript. This work was supported by EU Marie Curie Training Network MRTN-CT-2005-019564 EVAN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Palaeoanthropology and Messel Research, Senckenberg Research Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    S. Benazzi & E. Stansfield

  2. Department of Genetics, Evolution and Anthropology, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, 43100, Parma, Italy

    C. Milani

  3. Department of History and Methods for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Vicolo degli Ariani 1, 48100, Ravenna, Italy

    G. Gruppioni

Authors
  1. S. Benazzi
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  2. E. Stansfield
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  3. C. Milani
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  4. G. Gruppioni
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Benazzi.

Additional information

S. Benazzi and E. Stansfield contributed equally to this work.

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Benazzi, S., Stansfield, E., Milani, C. et al. Geometric morphometric methods for three-dimensional virtual reconstruction of a fragmented cranium: the case of Angelo Poliziano. Int J Legal Med 123, 333–344 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-009-0339-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-009-0339-6

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